Category World News

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has become the target of a sustained right-wing backlash after the US-based Jewish advocacy group included an organisation founded by slain right-wing figure Charlie Kirk in its online database on extremism.

The blowback escalated sharply on Wednesday after FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the bureau would sever ties with the ADL, accusing the prominent advocacy group of spying on Americans.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s post calling the ADL a “hate group” set off a firestorm of criticism online, forcing the group to scrap the “Glossary of Extremism and Hate”, which contained more than a thousand entries on groups and movements with connections to hateful ideologies.

But that has not subdued the backlash from conservatives – the base of the governing Republican Party.

So, what’s ADL’s online database, and why has it triggered MAGA (Make America Great Again) rage? And how has the nonprofit, which backed the crackdown on pro-Palestine campus protests by the administration of US President Donald Trump, ended up ruffling feathers across the political spectrum?

What is ADL?

The ADL is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish advocacy groups in the United States. It was founded in 1913 by members of the B’nai B’rith – Hebrew for “Sons of the Covenant”, a Jewish fraternal organisation – to counter anti-Semitism and prejudice against Jews.

The group, which calls itself “a global leader in combating antisemitism”, started with its original mission, “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all”.

Over time, the ADL grew into a national force with branches spread across the country. It works closely with law enforcement agencies to train officers on identifying bias-motivated violence. It also develops programmes and resources on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, partnering with schools, universities and communities.

Its monitoring of right-wing racist and anti-LGBTQ+ extremism also allowed it space within the US’s liberal Jewish community.

Since its inception, the ADL has argued that anti-Zionism could lead to anti-Semitism. But in the past couple of decades, the nonprofit has been pushing to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates some criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. The ADL has also backed a controversial resolution passed by the US Congress that defined anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism.

The ADL is a well-resourced civil society group, with around $163m in revenue last year alone.

What caused the backlash against ADL?

The recent backlash was triggered after several influential right-wing social media accounts began posting screenshots of the ADL’s entry on Kirk’s organisation, Turning Point USA, in its “Glossary of Extremism”.

Kirk, who is credited with galvanising young voters for Trump, was assassinated last month.

Though Turning Point USA was not listed as an “extremist organization”, the nonprofit had documented incidents where its leadership and affiliated members had made “racist or bigoted comments”.

ADL’s entry on “Christian Identity” – which the nonprofit identified as an extremist theology that promotes white supremacy – also drew widespread criticism from right-wing influencers.

The ADL has long positioned itself as a nonpartisan watchdog. But conservatives have increasingly argued that it has become politically aligned with progressive causes, including the group’s partnerships with social media companies in moderating hate-speech policies.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, has been accused of “weaponising anti-Semitism” to attack critics of liberal policies and of conflating right-wing populism with hate speech in the past.

In the weeks following Kirk’s assassination, the US has seen a wave of right-wing backlash against public figures who criticised him, with several commentators and journalists facing professional repercussions – including the brief suspension of a television show by comedian Jimmy Kimmel and the firing of Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah.

What was in ADL’s online database?

The ADL “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” was an online, searchable database launched in March 2022 by the organisation’s Center on Extremism. After the backlash from right-wing influencers, mostly from the MAGA camp, the ADL quietly moved to retire its database from the public.

The database contained more than 1,000 entries providing overviews and definitions of terms, symbols, slogans, tactics, publications, groups, and individuals associated with various extremist ideologies, hate movements, and related activities.

The resource covered a broad spectrum, including white supremacism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, and extremism on the far right and far left. The glossary reportedly included groups like the Proud Boys, the Nation of Islam, the Oath Keepers, and others.

The ADL, in its statement, argued that “an increasing number of entries in the Glossary were outdated”, and “a number of entries [were] intentionally misrepresented and misused”.

The organisation further said that it wanted to focus on exploring “new strategies and creative approaches to deliver our data and present our research more effectively”.

The list is no longer publicly available on ADL’s site, and the original URL now redirects to the organisation’s home page.

How did Musk get into this?

The online smear campaign gained traction on Sunday night after billionaire Elon Musk started interacting with posts targeting the ADL.

Musk, who has more than 227 million followers on X, said, “The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is is [sic] a hate group.”

The ADL’s operations encourage murder, Musk said in another reply to a post on X, formerly Twitter, which he bought in 2022 after paying $44bn.

Musk’s attacks on the ADL still came as a shock to some. ADL’s Greenblatt has, in fact, praised Musk several times, including in 2023 for saying that X would block use of the pro-Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea”.

That applause reportedly led to the resignation of a top ADL executive, Yael Eisenstat, who headed the nonprofit’s Center for Technology and Society, and the group lost several donors.

The ADL has also criticised Musk, saying X’s Grok chatbot promoted pro-Nazi ideology. The chatbot has praised Adolf Hitler, and called itself “MechaHitler”.

Former and current ADL employees have told Jewish Currents, a US-based progressive publication, that Greenblatt has repeatedly given a pass to Musk’s white nationalist sympathies if they help the ADL fight anti-Zionism – a pattern that reportedly escalated after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, followed by Israel’s now two-year-long war on Palestine, which has been dubbed genocide by an United Nations inquiry panel.

Then again, earlier this year, Greenblatt came to Musk’s defence after several Jewish lawmakers and civil society groups condemned Musk’s fascist-style salutes on stage during a speech after Trump’s re-election.

The ADL had posted: “It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.”

Why did the FBI snap ties with ADL?

The FBI’s decision to cut ties with the ADL also marks a sharp rupture in a partnership that had lasted for decades, at least since the 1940s, rooted in joint efforts to train law enforcement officers and monitor extremist threats across the US.

The move was announced by FBI chief Patel just 24 hours after Musk joined the online campaign, accusing the ADL of having “become a political front masquerading as a watchdog”.

Patel also targeted James Comey, an American lawyer who served as the director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, during the era of US President Barack Obama.

“James Comey wrote ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedded FBI agents with them – a group that ran disgraceful ops spying on Americans,” Kash said in a post on X, without offering any more clarity on this.

“That era is OVER. This FBI won’t partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs,” he concluded.

Why is ADL accused of pro-Israel bias and of suppressing pro-Palestinian activism?

The ADL has also faced criticism from left-wing activists for exhibiting a pro-Israel bias and suppressing pro-Palestinian activism, particularly in the wake of widespread protests across US campuses over the Gaza war that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and turned the Palestinian enclave into ruins.

The advocacy group has dubbed grassroots protests against Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza as “pro-Hamas activism”, while its CEO Greenblatt has described the Jewish groups calling for a ceasefire as “the ugly core of anti-Zionism”.

The ADL also publicly campaigned against campus protests last year, describing some demonstrations as “antisemitic hate rallies”. The group urged university administrators and government officials to take action against protest organisers, and pressured institutions to censor or discipline dissenting voices.

ADL’s Greenblatt praised Trump for withholding $400m in grants to Columbia University after campus protests and complimented the arrest of Columbia pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

“We appreciate the Trump Administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism – and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,” the ADL posted above a tweet about Khalil’s arrest.

The ADL’s collaboration with the US administration has dented its credibility, and several staff have resigned, citing the organisation’s overt emphasis on pro-Israel advocacy.

In the general election, Moldova’s pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won the election on September 28. It also established a new geopolitical trend and defeated the Patriotic Electoral Bloc (PEB), which is favored by Russia.

Russia is losing ground in post-Soviet Eurasia as a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine. In paradoxical circumstances, Moscow launched a massive invasion of its neighbor in 2022 to assert its authority over what it refers to as its “near abroad.” More than three years later, the failure of the strategy is painfully obvious.

Russia is being relegated by various nations and leaders, whether they are old-school autocrats or Democrats.

The impressive PAS performance in Moldova defied all expectations for a close race. Pro-Russian organizations under the leadership of PEB appeared to be gaining steam in the weeks leading up to the elections. Moldova’s society was evenly divided, and the country was burdened by uncertainty regarding the economy. However, with renewed tensions between the parties within the PEB, things turned around in the late summer.

The coordinated Russian efforts to influence the elections through information ops on social media, which used PAS as a Western puppet to sway the nation’s conflict with Russia and profit from Romania’s fears of an economic downturn and annexation, backfired.

Two blatantly pro-Russian parties were forced to withdraw from the Central Electoral Commission because of allegations of illegal funding. Additionally, the government obtained the extradition of fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, who is accused of being a key player in the $1 billion bank theft from Greece.

The West, a strong supporter of the European Union, found renewed by the drama to the Moldovan diaspora. In consequence, only the Gagauz region of northern Moldova and Transnistria, where the opposition parties are concentrated, did well. Despite receiving nearly 3 percent of its votes in comparison to 2021, PAS still won with 50.2 percent, compared to PEB, who received 24.4%.

Moscow-friendly forces likely had had a better chance of challenging PAS if Russia had stopped ingratiating. The opposition squandered a chance to influence how well-governed the elections are. PAS had a competitive advantage when it came to the EU versus Russia debate.

The party could take credit for bringing Moldova closer to membership, which led to the start of the 2024 accession talks, which had become a favored choice. Given its prominence as the country’s main export exporting destination and top trading partner, almost two-thirds of Moldovans are in favor of joining the EU, which is surprising. The populace’s pro-EU attitude is irreversible, and even if PEB gains control, it’s unlikely to significantly alter its course.

The South Caucasus can be seen too. Armenia, which was historically heavily reliant on Russian strategic and economic aid, has turned its head west. As Azerbaijan regained complete control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2022, Moscow abysmally failed to support its allies.

Nikol Pashinyan, the president of Armenia, had a chance to talk to both Azerbaijan and Turkiye in person. A peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan is currently being considered because Donald Trump, the president of the United States, wants to see it through the finish line to claim credit.

Armenia’s membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which was dominated by Russia, was suspended in February 2024. Additionally, France’s cooperation in security and defense increased.

Azerbaijan has also experienced increased tensions with Russia twice in recent years, once in 2024 over a crashed passenger jet over the Caspian Sea and once this summer over the arrests of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, which led to a major crisis.

Russia served as Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s arbitrator in the past and has regional influence. While Turkiye and the US have stepped in to fill the void, it has now managed to alienate both nations.

Only Georgia appears to lean toward Moscow in the South Caucasus. The governing Georgian Dream party and its informal leader, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, have argued with the EU over their propensity for authoritarianism, largely due to this. Georgia has just rejected its democratic demands, which have, in any case, declined under Trump’s control. Tbilisi is attempting to balance between Europe, the US, and, of course, China rather than firmly ties itself to Russia.

In Central Asia, “multivectoring” has long been a common practice. Governments there have also been made aware of Russian ingrainement and given them an additional motivator to turn to China as a counterweight as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.

Beijing has been expanding its economic footprint in the area. It is the largest investor in Central Asia, and it is now the fifth-largest country in the group, accounting for 34% of the total trade of the five Central Asian nations, up from 17.7% in 2020 to 24.1 percent in 2024. Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan are ahead of the rest.

China’s diplomatic efforts have also increased: In May 2023, China held its first China-Central Asia summit in Xi’an. A treaty on “permanent good-neighbourliness, friendship, and cooperation” was signed in Astana in June of this year.

Beijing also emphasized the importance of playing a greater part in transnational crime, border security, and antiterrorism, which are traditionally reserved for Russia. This partnership may be beneficial in overcoming domestic difficulties from the perspective of the regional states. The adage that China must provide the cash and Russia must be accurate no longer.

Given that Russia is reliant on China, which has grown exponentially as a result of the war in Ukraine and the Western sanctions that came with it, it is undoubtedly unhappy. Putin’s participation in the military parade in Beijing on September 3 to honor the victory of World War II and bolster China’s involvement in the conflict is yet another illustration of how erratic the relationship has become. The leaders of Belarus and the five Central Asian nations were also present.

That doesn’t mean China is currently entirely in charge of Central Asians. There is a lot of local agency involved, as regional political researchers have pointed out when criticizing the new “Great Game”‘s perceived impact. Local players are playing against the big boys to assert their independence and profit from these arrangements.

Europe also plays a role in this tale. About 23 percent of Central Asia’s total trade comes from the EU. Some of the turnover is clearly explained by the imports of European-made goods, but not all of it. The pace of EU diplomacy is also increasing. In order to discuss cooperation on civilian nuclear power, French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Kazakhstan in 2024 for a widely publicized visit. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, head of the EU-Central Asia summit, took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in April.

Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine has long-lasting effects on both Europe and China, as well as Russia itself. The strong Russian influence over its “near abroad” might be overthrown. There is no denying that Russia’s influence is severely declining in Moldova, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, Syria has held its first indirect parliamentary election. Osama Bin Javaid from Al Jazeera visits Damascus and explains how the procedure will operate.

Five people have been killed in Ukraine after Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles across the country overnight, which officials said targeted civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia fired approximately 50 missiles and 500 attack drones.

“The Russians struck with cruise missiles, Shaheds and Kinzhals among other things,” he said. “The Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad regions were all targeted.”

One person in the eastern city of Zaporizhzhia and four members of a family in Lviv were killed in the attack. One of those killed was a 15-year-old girl.

Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said that the city was left without power and that public transport was affected. Sadovyi warned residents of the city not to go outside, citing smoke and several ongoing fires.

Mykola Dmytrotsa, a resident of Lapaivka village just outside Lviv, said his house was struck.

“All windows were blown out, doors and everything inside, too. What else can I tell you? I do not even want to talk about it. No doors, no windows, no roof,” he told the Reuters news agency.

Volodymyr Hutnyk, a local official, said: “In this area, 10 private homes were damaged so severely that they are no longer habitable. They will need to be dismantled and rebuilt. Many other houses have shattered windows and doors, and their roofs have been damaged.”

Lviv is near Ukraine’s border with Poland and has generally avoided the worst of Russia’s attacks.

Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv region, said it was the largest attack the region had experienced throughout the war, which has lasted more than three years.

“Across all affected areas, residential buildings and critical infrastructure were damaged,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. “Moscow continues to strike homes, schools, and energy facilities – proving that destruction remains its only strategy.”

“Ukraine was shattered by explosions last night,” said Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine’s parliament. “Every one of these tragedies could have been prevented if Russia had been stopped.”

At least 30 people were killed on a passenger train in Sumy due to a Russian strike on Saturday, which Ukraine’s president said was “savage”.

Poland scrambles jets

Poland said it mobilised its fighter jets along with NATO allies to respond to the strike, which the Polish air force said was “preventive in nature” and “aimed at securing the airspace and protecting citizens”.

Around 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace in early September, raising concerns about the possible spillover of Russia’s attacks onto Polish and NATO territory. Russia has also been accused in recent weeks of violating the airspace of other NATO members, including Norway, Estonia, Lithuania and Denmark.

Belgium on Friday said 15 drones were spotted flying over a military base in the country’s east. Its Defence Minister Theo Francken said there was no evidence linking Moscow directly, but added, “Personally, I think those drones are often an example of hybrid threats. This is a way to sow unrest. That has been Russia’s pattern for many years.”

Russia has denied responsibility for many of the attacks, with President Vladimir Putin mocking countries claiming Russia was behind the drone attacks over the weekend.

On Saturday, Denmark said Russian naval vessels had tracked Danish ships, sailed on collision courses, tracked aircraft with their radars and pointed their weapons. “Russia is using military means, including in an aggressive way, to put pressure on us without crossing the line into armed conflict in a traditional sense,” Danish intelligence director Thomas Ahrenkiel said.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Russia is “masking its failed summer offensive with terror attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure”. Kallas said the EU was prepared to back Kyiv for “as long as needed” and said a new sanctions package was being prepared.

Lithuania’s foreign minister, Kestutis Budrys, joined Zelenskyy after the attack in calling on countries around the world to stop purchasing Russian energy, which they said fuels Moscow’s war machine.

“We must stop feeding its imperial appetite and put an end to state terrorism,” Budrys posted on X.

These incidents come as Europe has hardened its position on Russia, announcing new sanctions, the possibility of using Russian money for Ukraine and purchasing NATO arms for Kyiv, while the US has warmed to the Kremlin.

Samuel Ramani, a fellow at the United Kingdom-based defence think-tank RUSI, said Russia is retaliating for Europe taking a “sharply” pro-Ukraine position in recent months.

Russia sees Europe as a more “incorrigible adversary, whereas with the Americans, we can still find a way back, a way to do business with them and work with them,” Ramani told Al Jazeera.

The president’s palace protesters, according to Georgia’s prime minister, had an ulterior motive for regaining control of the country. The ruling party is accused of rigging the previous election with Russian assistance, but Riot police used tear gas and water cannon to epel demonstrators.